Treasure Hunting

In my spare time (and as of late, I have had a lot) I have been hunting around for furniture to populate my quite naked living room. I've found a few really cute things, so here they are:

These curtains and pillow are from a store called "Finders Keepers" right near where I live. I love the colors, and on the curtains the way that they blend into each other. The graphic on the pillow was perfect for my bed. My style is bold and simple, and the colors matched perfectly.

I needed one of these sewing bags and finally found one! Again, what I love about it is the bold, graphic print—plus it was really cute. I also got this lamp at the same place, a store called "Second Life." I thought the texture on the shade was really cool, and lit up it has a soft glow that's actually nice—not too bright.

Finally, I went to a store in Tucker, GA called Regroup Furniture Consignment. The guys there were so nice, and they had an amazing selection of furniture (and a lot of midcentury modern, which I love) that's in great shape and totally reasonable. I'll probably end up getting a couch there; I told them what I was looking for, and they said they see a lot in that style. Anyway, this time I settled for an armchair and rug. It's starting to feel a little more like home now!

I think I'm going to eventually have a vintage-themed house warming party. I mentioned it to a friend of mine, who said that I should plan some games and activities to go along with my theme. Anyone have any ideas? I would love to hear some, no matter how silly they may seem :D

Poor Man's Muffins

You will need:

• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1/2 cup margarine 
• 1 cup water 
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice 
• 2 cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Place sugar, margarine, water, and spices in a pot and bring to a boil for one minute. Cool. Blend in four, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Put in paper-lined muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes a dozen muffins.

I made these muffins for an event at my church the other day, and since I get so many compliments, I thought I would share the recipe. A few years ago, I was wandering around in an antique store, "Ponder's Antiques" (in Daphne, Alabama) when I came across this set of 1960s recipe books. Being in college, I decided to flip through every recipe until I found one I could make for really cheap, and this is the one I found!

They're called Poor Man's muffins because most of the ingredients you should already have in your kitchen, and it doesn't require any eggs or milk! When I make them, I don't have any allspice or nutmeg, and just the cinnamon tastes delicious. I put cream cheese frosting on top, and it goes really well with the recipe.

Anyway, let me know if you try these Poor Man's Muffins—I hope you like them!!

Vintage Inspired Designs

I designed these vintage-inspired recipe cards, calendar set, and measurement chart recently and am planning to sell them on my Etsy soon. If anyone who sees my post is interested, I'm charging $9 for a set of 10 recipe cards, $20 per calendar (which will start with the current month), and $5 for the measurement chart, which is laminated (plus shipping). Just leave me a comment, or send an email to aboroden@gmail.com!

Kitchen Storage

So the other day I went to IKEA, which is always a smart thing to do, with only two key exceptions: (1) you, for financial reasons, must restrain yourself from buying everything you see (2) it's the IKEA in Atlanta, and you're planning on going during rush hour. Unfortunately, both applied to me. At least I was able to somewhat restrain myself. I stuck to kitchen things and just contented myself with making a list of other things I liked. 

Anyway, what I love about IKEA is how simple, modern, and functional everything is. Today, this is what I managed to limit myself to (with the exception of some bookends too—the ones shaped like an angled "B" with the bottom corner cut off—those are so cool.) But back to the point, this Grundtal wall rail is fantastic because both the rail and the tray together are only $4! I would definitely recommend it. The other thing I bought was this wall shelf and paper towel holder. The neat thing about these things are there are so many different parts you can mix and match, so there are so many options!

Anyway, that's all for today! (Thank goodness for my wallet! lol)

A Series of Fortunate Events

So one thing led to another, and...........

Branching Out

I saw this idea awhile back, and since I don't have any of my bedroom furniture yet, I thought it would be a good way to add something to the room and display my jewelry. Basically it's as easy as going outside, finding a tree, and picking up a fallen branch. I found a couple but this one looked the best on my wall. To hang it up, I just nailed right through it.

In the blog I found it on, they just put small nails into the branch to hang things on. But I had already nailed it to the wall at that point and it wasn't so easy! So I went to Home Depot and bought these S-Hooks for only a dollar. They come in different sizes so you can put them on different parts of the branch.

Trees are so organic, natural, and complex. A single branch has such a beauty to it, it's almost like hanging a piece of art on your wall. If anyone else gives it a try, I'd love to see your pictures!

The Adventures of Aqua Woman

This morning I had a dilemma. I didn't have any idea what I was going to do all day. And then it struck me—I still had to paint my kitchen. Yes, that meant having to move my refrigerator, stove, and my enormous washer/dryer...but I decided it was worth the trouble. So I went to Walmart and bought a bucket of this satin-finish aqua paint, and spent about five hours at work. But I am so happy with the result! I wanted my kitchen to be colorful, and I think this is the perfect color.

For some reason, I'm a little aqua crazy. They have this exact right blend of blue green at Target, which is where I got most of my things like towels, comforter, shower curtain etc etc etc. I think it's my favorite color. No, it's definitely my favorite color, lol.

In other news, I made the pillowcase from the vintage fabric I talked about the other day. It's the orange pillow in the middle next to my penguin, Toby (Granny named him). I thought the fabric went really well with my sheets and everything, and I didn't have enough of it for a curtain, so pillowcase—yay!

In Estate of Happiness

Yesterday I went to my first estate sale in Atlanta, and it was a very rewarding one! I got a whole armful of things for less than $15!

The biggest find was this green fleece heating blanket. I definitely needed one of those because—as I'm sure you know—old houses are drafty...and baby, its still cold outside! On top of that, I'm sleeping on a air mattress (which, if you have never slept on one before, likes to suck in and retain every bit of cold no matter what temperature the house is). So, needless to say, I needed something warm.

I also found a small stuffed pillow. I have had this cool vintage fabric for awhile now and had recently decided I wanted to make a pillow case out of it cause it goes well with my bed sheets. I will post a picture when it's done!

Next are the two rubbermaid pitchers. I don't think I'll be able to have enough of these. (only 50 cents each...I couldn't pass them up anyway...)

I loved the style of this little compact radio, and it even has a working battery, so I'm listening to it even as I type! Next to that is a timer so that you can set your lamps to turn on/off at a certain hour. Really useful.

And finally, in front is a wooden yardstick and a colorful doormat.

Anyone else found anything interesting lately?

Finds

I have been having so much fun decorating and exploring lately!

The other day I painted my bathroom and it makes such a huge difference. I thought the color went well with my aqua stuff I already had everywhere. Oh and my kitchen is next. Hopefully some time next week. The only trouble is I can't reach the top, so I'm going to have to wait for a tall person to come visit and recruit them to help me :P

Also, today I went shopping around to all the thrift stores I could find. There are some great ones around here, but my absolute favorite was called the "Way Out" Thrift Store. It's basically a tiny house turned into a treasure chest. And everything from the books and knick-knacks down to the shelves they're sitting on are for sale! So I bought this amazing table for only $8! I also saw this accordion door and thought I could do something really cool with it just as a decorative piece, so here is what I came up with. The living room is still so bare, but at least it's a start.

I also got this amazing two piece vintage dress today, but haven't been able to get a good picture yet for lack of a good enough mirror. I will post pictures of it as soon as I get some good ones!

Anyway, that's all the news for now!

Home is Where the Heart Is

I finally am officially moved in to my own place! My neighbors are really nice—the girl in the other side of my duplex is also a Dr. Who fan (so we're already planning on watching the next season together, haha!) and my other neighbor is always outside renovating the house next door (he also has chickens he lets out during the day).

This house is so cute and quirky—I am going to have so much fun decorating it. Unfortunately all my furniture is still in Chicago, so it will probably be awhile before my house actually looks like someone lives in it! But I brought as much as possible in my car. I've got things to cook with, and a bed to sleep on, so that's good enough for now :p

I love my bathroom too. It's small, but looks like it has the original tub (with feet and wrap around curtain!) and sink (only problem is the hot and cold water come from two separate spouts...which means no in between!).

I'm looking forward to finding some estate sales around here so I can put some things in my living room. I will definitely share if I find anything cool!